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Looking for a creative way to spice up your class blog? Follow these simple steps to embed a Google Slide show to introduce your class.

STEP 1: Give your students a template

Click HERE to get your own copy. Share this template with you students. I use Google Classroom and allow my students to “edit” the presentation. Each student has a number, and they are only allowed to work on that assigned number. Are there hiccups? Of course! Sometimes slides get deleted or backgrounds get changed. It’s a risk that we are willing to take, and we learn a lot in the process. Here’s a tutorial by Alice Keeler.

PLAN B: If that seems too risky for your class, try option 2. It’s a little more time consuming on the teacher’s part, but just as effective. Instead of giving the whole class access to edit the entire presentation, just share one slide with them via Google Classroom and merge all of them together in the end. Whoalah! (It’s always best to give them a template to start).

Tip: My class always uploads a screenshot of the avatar. That way we don’t need to bother with downloading and uploading from the sites. That can get tricky.

STEP 2: Create a title slide

You will notice that I have the title slide at the end of the template presentation. There is a reason for this! My students each have a number that they identify with all year long (1-30; depending on the number of students I have). If number 1 starts working on “slide 1” then that cannot be the title slide. (I’m expecting a light bulb moment now.) Before you post your Google Slideshow, just click on the title slide (last position) and drag it to the top! Boom!

STEP 3: Post presentation to blog

It’s time to share our masterpiece! The cool thing about this is that students can continue to edit and finish their slides even after it is posted on your blog. Follow these steps to introduce your class!

In Google Slides:

Go to File, and “publish to the web…”

Click “Embed” next to “Link”

Choose a slide size (I like medium) Here’s what my settings look like

Click “Publish

Highlight and copy the embedded text

Now head on over to your blog!

On your blogging platform, you will want to {paste} this embedded code when inserting media. Here’s a quick tutorial if you are using Edublogs as your platform. If your are using a different blogging platform, please check with the relevant help guide.

Our class had the opportunity to visit the amazing MakerSpace at our county office. The students had a blast learning about Sandboxes and how they function. They have been coding and programming in the classroom, but this experience allowed them to see it in action. Some students programmed lights to flicker and change colors, while others experimented with temperature and sound sensors.

After tinkering with the Sandboxes, students created LED flowers out of plastic drinking bottles. This was a perfect project for us since we just learned about recycling and upcycling the week before.

Before leaving the MakerSpace, Mrs. Carlson let us tour the green room. The students wouldn’t stop talking about all the cool things they learned. What a great experience!

I came across this cool app for the ipad as I was looking for an “All About Me” project to start the year. The app cost $1.99, but the end product is priceless. I used my own child as a model since we are out on summer vacation (although he will be my student next year). Do you have any other Back-to-School ideas? Please comment below.Here is a link to the app in the itunes store: Wordfoto

We are excited to share that we are QuadBlogging with three other classes from around the world. QuadBlogging allows the students to share their work with other students from different parts of the world. Each class will take turns being the “Spotlight” class. When you are the spotlight class, the other three classes will visit your blog and leave comments on the works you have posted. We are looking forward to sharing our learning with our new blogging friends.